


As Time Goes By

by Mysti_Fogg



Series: Classics of Mass Effect [1]
Category: Casablanca (1942), Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Characters Watching Casablanca (1942), F/M, International Fanworks Day 2018, Mass Effect 3, Men Crying, Paragon Shepard (Mass Effect), Pragmatic Idealism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-19 01:37:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13694163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysti_Fogg/pseuds/Mysti_Fogg
Summary: Shepard lovesCasablanca. Garrus was raised on war films. What could go wrong?





	As Time Goes By

**Author's Note:**

> 2018 IFD prompt: What does your favorite character—or your favorite pairing—get fannish over?

_"Boss, ain't you going to bed?"_ asks the man in the dark suit.

 _"Not right now,"_ The haggard man in white replies.

_"Ain't you planning on going to bed in the near future?"_

_"No."_ A glass of liquor sits before him, but he's not drinking.

Garrus looks from the vid screen, playing unwatched in the corner, to his red-haired mate at her desk, tapping a stylus against a datapad. 

_"You_ ever _going to bed?"_

He can't read human writing, but he can recognize the Cerberus logo. Shepard's supposed to be off duty.

He reaches out a talon to turn off the vid, only for her hand to swat his away. 

_"No!"_ The man in the movie says firmly.

 _"Well, I ain't sleepy either,"_ says the first man, sitting down at a piano.

Garrus sighs in exasperation a human stubborness. "Well, now I know where you get it from."

"What?" asks Shepard, unintimidated by the alien raptor standing over her shoulder.

"You are _supposed _to be resting."__

"I am."

"You're looking over Cerberus activities. That's not resting."

"I'm not sleepy. And I was resting. I was listening to snappy dialogue and crying over "The Marseillaise" and trying to figure out how to defeat the Nazis... I mean Cerberus... oh, wait, I wasn't supposed to be doing that. I mean Nazis. Definitely Nazis."

"You _are_ tired." Normally, she wouldn't make a mistake like that. "What are Nazis?"

She chews on her lip, thinking. "I want to say the prototypical evil empire, but they were real, and people don't like to think true evil exists. Umm... they were extremists who believed in the supremacy of one race ... well, it wasn't really a race even, more like a collection of certain genetics. They sought to conquer at least a continent, and they tortured people and tried to exterminate other races in ovens." She looks at the Cerberus pad. "I don't want to see something similar happen again."

 _"That's_ what you were watching for fun?"

"What? NO! _Casablanca_ isn't about that at all! They're just sort of the background villains. It's about a man. He's opened a club on the edges of the war front. The territory has been captured by the villains, but he's from a neutral country they don't want to fight yet. And he's not doing anything. He used to be an idealist fighting for good, but now he's a broken, bitter man."

"He stopped being an idealist when the evil empire rose? Wouldn't that be the easiest time to fight for ideals because most people would agree?"

"They didn't know how evil the empire was until after the war. And since he could leave any time he wanted, it wasn't his fight, he's not worried about them. But then his lost love walks in the door and turns his world upside down and ... and there's criminals and crooked cops and all of the refugees who want to find a way out but can't. Or want to fight back but feel powerless. It's all so funny and bittersweet. And ... and well, you want me to stop working, why don't I restart it and you watch it with me?"

"Eh... sure. Why not?" He pats her shoulder.

"You don't sound enthusiastic."

"Sweetheart, turians invented the war story. I'm sure it will be ... interesting," he says condescendingly.

#

_2 hours later_

It's a very good thing, as the credits begin to roll, that the captain's cabin has a floor to itself. Shepard isn't sure how she'd ward off the rest of the crew if they came to find out what that horrible piercing wail is. Her best guess is that the mournful, soul-crushing sound is turian crying. She blinks back a tear and silently takes a vow to never make her turian do that again. _Ever._ It's not worth being right.

She had been leaning into his embrace. Now she sits up and pulls his head down into her lap. "It's alright."

"But he got all noble and made her leave! Why did he make her leave? They were in love!" he keens.

"Her husband needed her more. He wasn't the most practical or cunning man. She could do that for him and look after him."

"He could damn well learn to look after himself! Especially if that's not where she wanted to be."

"She wanted to be both places. She couldn't split herself in two. Rick was right, she'd regret going with him. 'Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but some day and for the rest of her life.'"

"And she wouldn't regret leaving him? Are humans so _flexible?"_

"Eh. She probably does. She probably would have regretted it either way. But with Lazlo, she has work to keep her busy, something of her own. With Rick ... I think she loves him more, but that's all she'd have, and that's no way to live, hanging your happiness on one person."

"And Rick goes off with one of the villains."

"He was an antagonist, not a villain."

"He was a corrupt cop! He deserves to be buried alive in the sand!"

"He's Rick's friend and Rick saves him. He doesn't want to be a corrupt cop. He's just trying to survive. There's more of the enemy than there are of him. His people have been defeated. He lost hope. Rick gives him that again, gives him the will to fight again. They'll fight on." She strokes his fringe. "The movie was made during the war, no one knew what would happen. But they won. The Allies, Rick and Louie and all the people fighting for a world without fear, they won."

"You're too forgiving," he growls in anger at the ending.

"Maybe. I just ... people aren't perfect. Humans aren't, anyway. This movie is about our flaws and how we overcome them, most of us, if we're just given the opportunity. It's about how the human spirit can't be conquered even if it is briefly dragged down in despair. We can always rally. It is never too late."

She smiles at him. "We are going to win this war. Even if the Reapers kill us all, we will find a way to win. Because we never give up fighting. Even when they break us, the human spirit can always rise again."

Shepard leans down to kiss his mandible. "Come to bed. Next time we watch something, You can pick the vid."

"Promise you'll never make me leave like that."

"What? Never!"

"You say that, but then you always do the noble thing."

"Well, last I heard you didn't have a wife waiting for you. So I don't think there's anything to be afraid of. We're in this together to the end."

"To the end," he agrees.

#

 _You must remember this_  
_A kiss is just a kiss_  
_A sigh is just a sigh_  
_The fundamental things apply_  
_As time goes by_

**Author's Note:**

> I love _Casablanca_. It is the first film to ever make me cry. And I don't even mind that it makes me cry. It's cathartic.
> 
> It's also funny to me to see the prompt for this fanworks day, since I've been toying with the idea of Garrus and Shepard talk over important vids, books, and songs as a series because if you're going to have an intercultural relationship, you should be putting some effort into understanding the other culture.
> 
> So I don't know if I'll get around to doing any more, but it seemed like a good time to try.


End file.
